Isaac Hayes: Much More Than 'Shaft'

By

Jim Fusilli

Updated Aug. 12, 2008 11:59 p.m. ET

The multigenerational appeal of Isaac Hayes, who died on Sunday at age 65, speaks to the breadth of his talent. But it also serves to distort the perception of his contribution to American popular culture.

To his youngest fans, Hayes was recognized as the silky, seductive voice of Chef on the animated TV program "South Park." Prior to that, Hayes's best-known achievement was the music for the 1971 film "Shaft." He wrote it, performed it and won an Academy Award for Best Original Score, the first African-American to do so. He also acted in some 30 films.

But the early stages of Hayes's lengthy professional career include significant work as a songwriter, arranger, producer and staff musician at Stax Records' studios in Memphis. As such, Hayes was in many ways responsible for some of soul's best-known songs while working, and often leading, groups of racially integrated musicians in the Deep South during the '60s.

Born in Covington, Tenn., in 1942, Hayes picked cotton after his parents died. He dropped out of high school but returned to earn his diploma at age 21. Singing in church since early childhood -- one imagines what Hayes's velvety baritone sounded like when he was a boy -- he taught himself keyboards, saxophone and flute. In the early '60s, he found a position at Stax as a session musician, backing various singers including Otis Redding -- he played piano on "Try a Little Tenderness" -- and working alongside Booker T. Jones, Steve Cropper, Al Jackson and Duck Dunn, better known as the racially mixed Booker T and the MGs.

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In the mid-'60s, Hayes and his songwriting partner David Porter composed a string of hits, most notably for Sam & Dave: "Soul Man," "Hold On, I'm Coming," "I Thank You" and "When Something Is Wrong With My Baby," among them. They also wrote "B-A-B-Y" for Carla Thomas, "Your Good Thing Is About to End" for Mable John and some 200 other songs.

A striking, charismatic figure, seeming vaguely threatening in oversized sunglasses and a shirt made of chains, Hayes set out on a solo career in the late-'60s, and his second album "Hot Buttered Soul" suggested the emergence of a gifted, idiosyncratic artist. Though he was an admired composer, Hayes included only four songs on the 1969 release, two originals and lengthy reimaginations of Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "Walk on By" and Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," which runs almost 19 minutes. Decidedly down-tempo with deep grooves, sweeping strings, wah-wah guitars and female backing singers, it foreshadowed his soundtrack for "Shaft."

The award-winning song, "Theme From Shaft," is a modern classic, with its driving intro featuring Willie Hall's pattern on the high-hat cymbal and the wah-wah guitar of Charles Pitts, whose performance throughout the album is a marvel. Today it instantly evokes the gritty inner-city experience and the emerging Black Pride movement of the times. It's funky elegance would later influence arrangers of disco music. As such, it eclipses the rest of a sophisticated, wide-ranging recording of not only fast-paced orchestral soul, but also slinky jazz and brassy R&B that transcends its era.

ENLARGE

Ken Fallin

"Black Moses," a beautiful 14-track album released the same year as "Shaft," includes his takes on "I'll Never Fall in Love Again," "Never Can Say Goodbye," "Close to You" and a pair of Curtis Mayfield compositions. Hayes used the technique of the spoken word over his rich arrangements since the inception of his solo career; though he called them "raps" on "Black Moses," they had little to do with the rap movement that followed.

Financial difficulties disrupted Hayes's career in the mid-'70s. In debt to a regional bank, Hayes sued Stax for back royalties; unable to comply, the label released him from his contract, and he paid his debt with future royalties and income. He continued to record with sporadic success, and increased in his appearances as an actor in TV and films. In 1995, he had a hit with his album "Branded," which revived his '70s formula of lavish love ballads and bubbling soul. In 2002, he was named to the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame, and celebrated in "Only the Strong Survive," a 2004 documentary.

In what is now a distracting coda to an admirable musical career, in the late '90s Hayes took on the role of Chef, the licentious grade-school cook in TV's "South Park." Though Chef is reliable and stalwart in contrast to other South Park adults, he often seemed to lampoon Hayes's on-record reputation for simmering romance. In 2006, Hayes announced he was quitting the show as a protest over its portrayal of religions and their followers; the show's creators pointed out that Hayes didn't object until they took on the Church of Scientology, of which Hayes was a member since '95.

America's fascination with celebrity may prize more highly his voice-over duties on a controversial cartoon show or the distinctive public personality he assumed as a pop musician. But his contributions to the legacy of soul and R&B illustrates why Hayes was an important player in the development of our country's, and the world's, popular music.

Mr. Fusilli is the Journal's rock and pop music critic. Email him at jfusilli@wsj.com.

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